Monday, March 8, 2010
Rebecca Kaplan Has a Shot at Being Mayor of Oakland
Politics / People Robert Gammon — Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 10:32 AM
Oakland City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan told the Oakland Tribune late last week that she’s “seriously” considering running for mayor this year, the Trib reports. Kaplan said she plans to issue an announcement about her decision next month. Her entry in the race would shake up the mayoral campaign, and would make her the third viable candidate, after ex-state Senator Don Perata and Councilwoman Jean Quan. Mayor Ron Dellums has not announced whether he plans to seek reelection.
Although Kaplan’s relative inexperience may be seen as a drawback in some circles, she likely will get a boost by this year’s new voting format — ranked choice voting. The popular, energetic councilwoman is well-liked by many city residents and is sure to receive numerous second place votes in the November Election. In fact, she could end being the defacto second choice for both Perata and Quan supporters.
The reason? Perata backers don’t like Quan, and Quan supporters don’t like Perata. As a result, if Kaplan can attract more first-place votes than either of the other candidates, a large number of second place votes could allow her sweep into the mayor’s office. And that may not be such a longshot, because Kaplan will surely do well among progressives and younger voters, and will likely pick a substantial number of Dellums supporters if he decides to not run again.
Comments (10)
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Before the Oakland City Council, Ms. Kaplan was an AC Transit Board Director. She strongly supported the dangerous and extremely expensive Van Hool buses that Alameda County bus riders and drivers deplore. She did not listen to them. Ms. Kaplan never took responsibility for that debacle that has helped to financially ruin AC Transit and jumped ship to run for the Oakland City Council right after that. Ms. Kaplan's ambitions override her ability to stick with an office for very long and to take responsibility for her decisions.
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@blah: Have Don Perata or Jean Quan been governor or chairman of the House Committee on Armed Services? I didn't think so.
My dream team would be something like Perata as mayor, Robert Bobb or Ignacio as city administrator, and Rebecca Kaplan as council president, until she's ready to move upward and onward.
Well, Dellums isn't gonna run again, and Jerry's running for governor again. And frankly, both of those guys are examples of how when a big fish lands in a small pond, they don't do as well.
Kaplan isn't running against Dellums or Brown. She's running against Quan and Perata. Neither of them have done as much as she has for Oakland recently. And both of them have a lot of baggage. The two of them are already beating each other up over campaign ethics and past failings, and neither of them has issued any kind of comprehensive plan for this city yet. It's just fight fight fight. Look at the news.
Kaplan's not even in the race yet, but I expect, based on past campaigns, that her agenda will be far more concrete than Quan or Peratas, her dilivery will be more energetic (though not as polished and calm as Perata, who is a true master speechmaker and room-worker).
I also expect, based on the last campaign, that you'll see no negativity out of a hypothetical Kaplan run for Mayor. She tends to campaign as if her opponents aren't even there. The only time I heard her talk publicly about Kerry Hammil in the last election was when she was directly asked about Hammil by audience members at debates, and even then, Kaplan was quick to back out of talking about anything other than an analytical take on differences in their platforms. This gal plays nice and wins. Watch out.
Max, that's good, but not quite on par with being governor, or chairman of the House armed services committee.
Off the top of my head, here are three:
1. During the budget crisis in early '09, Kaplan was the lead advocate behind four ballot measures which balanced the budget. (Voters may remember that the flyers for those ballot measures had the same colors and fonts as Kaplan's council campaign literature.) The measures raised millions to bridge Oakland's budget gap.
2. Wrote an ordinance which requires vacant buildings in Oakland to be registered with the city. Owners of vacant properties are now more accountable for the state of their buildings
3. She created a downtown shuttle which will begin running in late spring along Broadway. The project is federally funded and operated by AC Transit.
Kaplan has held elected office for the last 7 years, and has accomplished a lot. If people don't know enough about her track record, it is probably because Kaplan, in contrast to her opponents, spends more time doing real work and less time on self-promotion.
Supporters of Quan and Perata have already raised the "she's too young" argument. Perata himself took a cheap shot in the same spirit in the Tribune last week.
There's a very good reason we're hearing this: Quan and Perata are terrified of a Kaplan candidacy.
Kaplan has more energy and more good will directed at her than Perata and Quan combined. She also holds the record in Oakland for the most votes ever won in a citywide election: over 82,000. Those votes were in November '08, so that confidence in her is very fresh. Those votes also came in an election against a very well funded opponent, Kerry Hammil.
Quan and Perata haven't been in an election in over 4 years, and both times, they ran virtually unopposed. If I was them, I'd have 82,000 reasons to be scared of Kaplan entering the race.
Kaplan represents a real alternative from the 60-somethings who've spent the last two decades running this state and this city into the ground.
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